


center stage

by MidnightsNightmares



Category: Persona 5
Genre: M/M, akechi looks like a heavy metal screamo artist tho thats cool, and i cleverly used the words 'pancake makeup', its a concert stage and people feed on his appearance and words, not really meant to be though, this is a concept of akechis palace, you can see this as a pairing fic i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-18 02:26:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11281833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightsNightmares/pseuds/MidnightsNightmares
Summary: Akechi tied the loose ends of the bet with a simple promise: That if the Phantom Thieves did not steal his heart before the concert started, he would destroy his Palace himself.





	center stage

“There’s probably a VIP room somewhere backstage. That’s usually where any pop star would rest before doing a concert. That could also be where the Treasure is, if we’re theorizing.”

Ann would know about concerts out of all of them. Ann was the most social out of the entirety of the group, could easily connect with others (without the horrible acting tacked on), and go to places where she could enjoy what she really did enjoy with other people who shared mutual feelings. They all were awkward (she was no different), but she had the confidence to go out and be herself better than anyone else in the group.

It’s backstage. They would have to maneuver through this gigantic, massive, seemingly world-wide crowd and claw their ways to the backstage. If it’s like Ann was thinking, then the VIP room couldn’t be so easy to reach. Every Palace had many tricks up its sleeves, so there would be complex puzzles to complete and putting unrelated things together to make sense somehow.

Akechi - no, his _Shadow_ \- had already cast his ominous pancake makeup coated face on the giant screen on stage, not only announcing the soon beginning of his performance, but also to welcome the notorious Phantom Thieves, thanking them mockingly for coming out all this way just for him. The usual taunting and teasing from a Shadow was as cocky as ever, taking Akechi’s already spoiled ego and making it massive and malleable enough to conform to what he felt he needed emotionally inside of his Palace. Akechi challenged them, confidant enough he wouldn’t lose, with a bet that they couldn’t steal his Treasure before his concert began.

They had quite a few days then. No, accurately, it was a little more over a week and a half. It made the group stunned. In his Palace, his popularity and people’s reliance on him was so vast that people would flock to where he was no matter how long it took him to get there. They would wait, on aching feet, with raw throats, in sweaty clothes, throughout hunger until he came out to greet them all and bless them with his arrival. And that was their energy. They’d feed on his appearance, his words, his gracious ways of living until they were full enough to go home, and wait for him again.

Akechi tied the loose ends of the bet with a simple promise: That if the Phantom Thieves did not steal his heart before the concert started, he would destroy his Palace himself. The threat wasn’t a bluff, and if it was, the polished acting from over the years of having to pretend he was fine was as on point and believable as ever. His expression was remarkably egregious in his confidence, as if he knew he wouldn’t be defeated. The crowds, who were cheering wildly and madly after seeing him, had suddenly turned their heads at once to stare at the group standing out, all of them frozen at the unexpected synchronized reactions.

The crowd began to clamor, scream and curse at them to save Akechi. The group rushed away the second the wave of people began approaching, but it was difficult since they all jumped over one another like savages, running, grabbing at their costumes to try and stop them. Using a vent that was wide open, they’d managed to scramble inside of the nearby building connected to the concert stage and find some place where it was quiet. And since the room was distorted ever so slightly, Akira would bet they’d found a safe room. They could all rest easy.

Morgana had broken out of the hesitant state first, stepping forward to turn and face them all.

“These people have to represent the war he’s at with himself. If you think about it, moments before, they were all happy whenever he appeared on screen to cater to them and to call out to us. But now they’re relying on us to save him. Isn’t that what happened with him before, Joker?”

Morgana wasn’t wrong. Akechi had already admitted he practically fed on the attention and praise he got from the media and his fans, and these cognitive people acted no different than he did. It represented his desire to be wanted, but also to be saved. Akechi’s eyes on screen just then were not focused on the entire group when he said that promised, but rather they zoned in on Akira, and a passing emotion went through them, left without a second thought, before the screen went dark.

Akechi was relying on the Phantom Thieves. But more specifically, it was Akira’s help he was seeking out. He was the only person Akechi connected with, after all.

Did that mean Akira could possibly see a cognitive version of himself here? Of the others too? It’s not impossible. He wondered if he would be materialistic - like a simple stuffed worn and torn doll Akechi could kick around - or if he would be up, walking, living and breathing, unlike the tool Akira long ago thought he meant to him. It would be an awkward encounter, and it would be interesting to see how Akechi really did see him inside of his head. It wasn’t going to be good, Akira would bet, and he needed to refrain back from having high expectations of finding anything worthy of being considered positive while they infiltrated this place. He had to brace himself to see Akechi’s past, his emotions, his cognitive thoughts of Akira and the Phantom Thieves, and much more.

“Joker,” Morgana said, stepping forward. “Akechi didn’t look like he was bluffing when he said he was going to destroy this Palace, and even I don’t know what could happen if a Shadow were to do that to themself. We should get going.”

He met the gazes of the rest of the Phantom Thieves, then looked away, struck by a wave of uncertainty. It was best if he didn’t get lost in thoughts like this, because he would have forced himself to stop.

Akira didn’t need to hang onto thoughts that weighed him down.

**Author's Note:**

> find me at guccimermaid.tumblr.com ayyyy
> 
> friend and i were discussing this last night and i came up with this concept for akechis palace and i like it
> 
> (persona users cant have palaces but let me bend canon and live)


End file.
